The outspoken consumer rights advocate knows the incoming Democrat-heavy Congress has a lot to get done. But he hopes one of those things is letting you fix your own iPhone. I love my old iPhone 14, but I'm starting to face the facts: It's going to die. The battery is about to go; apps take longer to load than they used to. Some of it I can fix. I can go to the Genius Bar and swap the battery. Maybe I could even do it myself; that'd buy me some time. But eventually, Apple won't support this wildly expensive device at all, and there's not much I can do about it. Apple did start offering self-repair services a few years ago, but it involves renting nearly 80 pounds of equipment and requires you to use official parts. When all is said and done, it doesn't save you that much money versus just going to the Apple Store . But if I buy a screen or a camera component from a third party, there's a chance my iPhone is gonna lock me out of certain features because it doesn't recognize it. This problem goes far beyond iPhones. Manufacturers have put similar locks on all kinds of gadgets, from video game consoles to cars to smart home devices, making them hard to modify and even harder to restore after some firmware update renders a certain feature unusable.

Look Up Say More Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Trending Now Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Safety Net Mashable @Home In My Bag Versus Creator Playbook Getting Technical with Mashable All Series Elon Musk wasted so much money! Sam Haysom is the General Assignment Editor, UK, for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time. John Oliver recapped the midterms at the start of Sunday's episode of, and his sprits were high. It has been a busy week, and given the results a pretty good week too, Oliver said at the start of the episode.

Companies such as Google used to be our portals to the rest of the web. Can the internet as we know it survive when A.I. answers all of our questions? Lately, I've been having trouble finding stuff in my Gmail inbox. The Search function has become overzealous, jumping to summarize my conversations using artificial intelligence and skipping the actual addresses I'm attempting to search. It's not just e-mail accounts, though; search is in crisis everywhere.

Hot fridges, a fake nuclear alert and a $6bn heist: are we in the foothills of a hacking epidemic? Alex Pearce was doing the morning rounds at his fruit and vegetable wholesale business in London on Monday last week when he noticed something odd. The defrost light on refrigeration unit 2 was on, and the panel reading was 150C. Unit 4 was the same. As he approached his biggest unit, its defrost light also blinked on.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Look Up Say More Trending Now Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Safety Net Mashable @Home In My Bag Versus Creator Playbook Getting Technical with Mashable All Series Iowa elected a Democrat who'd dropped out of the U.S. midterms, and the internet has jokes Eric Armstrong withdrew from campaigning in September, but his name stayed on the ballot -- and Iowa voters elected him anyway. Amanda Yeo is an Assistant Editor at Mashable, covering entertainment, culture, tech, science, and social good. Based in Australia, she writes about everything from video games and K-pop to movies and gadgets. The 2026 U.S. midterm elections delivered a decisive Democrat victory this week, with a blue wave taking control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. It also unexpectedly swept up a Democratic candidate from Iowa who'd dropped out of the race, putting him in office regardless -- and prompting numerous jokes online.

Reddit Founder Says Building Social Media Apps Is'Not Cool Anymore' Alexis Ohanian is trying to figure out what's next for user-generated content now that so much of the internet is "compromised." Alexis Ohanian wants to figure out the future of user-generated content. According to the Reddit cofounder, building social media apps is "not cool anymore" and so much of the internet has been compromised. "I'm expecting some better version of the group chat to be that new version of UGC," Ohanian told WIRED senior correspondent Lauren Goode at the inaugural WIRED World Fair . Ohanian has a complicated relationship with the internet.

Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Look Up Safety Net Say More Mashable @Home In My Bag Versus Trending Now Creator Playbook Getting Technical with Mashable All Series The internet thinks so after the 2026 midterms. Democratic victories have people revisiting Obama-era songs, memes, and a familiar sense of hope. Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan.

Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Safety Net Say More Look Up Mashable @Home In My Bag Versus Trending Now Creator Playbook Mashable Selects Getting Technical with Mashable All Series'Mogging' is Collins' Word of the Year. Manosphere slang continues to go mainstream. Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan.

Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Safety Net Say More Look Up Mashable @Home In My Bag Versus Trending Now Creator Playbook Mashable Selects Getting Technical with Mashable All Series It's harder than ever to spot fake content online. Tech companies don't want us to stop and think when we scroll, but it's a crucial life skill. Chase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. Finding it harder and harder to spot truth online? We should all probably spend less time staring at screens.

Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Safety Net Mashable @Home In My Bag Versus Trending Now Creator Playbook Mashable Selects Getting Technical with Mashable All Series The internet is trying to fool you. Chase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. AI tools are boosting pink slime, and not just the TikTok kind. There is a 30 percent chance this article is fake. I am a real reporter.